acknowledged that made no sense, but said they will still pay taxes here no matter where they live and those taxes will be substantial once the incentives end in 15 years.“Granted it is only 150 jobs, but the jobs

Kyle Seager was asked before Thursday’s series opener against the Boston Red Sox what it’s like to face a knuckleball pitcher.

A look of horror crossed the face of the Seattle Mariners third baseman.

“Is that tonight?” Seager asked.

Told the Mariners wouldn’t be facing Steven Wright until Saturday’s game in Seattle Shareef Miller Jersey , Seager exhaled.

“Wow, don’t scare me like that,” said Seager, who could be excused for losing track as his wife is expecting their third child.

Seager said he has faced knuckleballers Wright, R.A. Dickey and Tim Wakefield during his career. He is 2-for-6 against Wright.

“It’s just a difficult pitch, one you don’t see that often,” Seager said. “They all throw it a little different; it goes all over the place. It can be fun, you just have to laugh at it a little bit.”

Mariners first baseman Ryon Healy, whose locker is next to Seager’s in the home clubhouse at Safeco Field, said he got his first major-league hit off Dickey.

“My hitting coach said don’t worry about your approach Devin Bush Jersey ,” said Healy, who was with the Oakland Athletics at the time. “Just swing and hope it’s in the strike zone.”

Wright (2-0, 1.21 ERA) is 2-1 with a 1.32 ERA is three career appearances against the Mariners, including one start.

This will be Wright’s third start of the season. He hasn’t allowed an earned run in the previous two. He post a 6-0 victory over Detroit on June 5 in which he allowed two hits in seven innings with three walks and six strikeouts. He gave up four hits in 6 2/3 innings in a no-decision on Monday at Baltimore, when he walked three and struck out five in a 2-0, 12-inning Red Sox victory.

“Out of the bullpen he was lights out, and then these past two starts have been pretty unreal,” Red Sox utility man Brock Holt told NESN. “That knuckleball dances around. It’s funny when you’re playing defense behind him and guys get on, they let you know how much it moves. It’s a difficult pitch to hit and he’s been able to throw strikes with it.”

Wright hasn’t allowed a run in his past 22 2/3 innings, the longest active streak in the majors.

“The thing with knuckleballs is people think you throw just one knuckleball http://www.steelersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-diontae-johnson-jersey , but the thing is, they’re big-league hitters,” Wright said. “The biggest thing is timing, and a pitcher’s got to disrupt their timing. So, for me, especially as a starter … I really just try to go back and forth with the velocity.”

The Mariners are scheduled to start left-hander Wade LeBlanc (2-0, 3.00), who has a 6.00 ERA but no decisions in two career starts against Boston.

LeBlanc, in his second stint with the Mariners, hasn’t lost in 16 starts for Seattle Justin Layne Jersey , tied for the fifth-longest such streak for a pitcher starting his tenure with a team in the live-ball era. LeBlanc is tied with former San Francisco starter Noah Lowry (2004-05), trailing only the New York Yankees’ Whitey Ford (22 starts in 1950-53), Montreal’s Kirk Rueter (22, 1993-94), Cincinnati’s Brooks Lawrence (18, 1956) and the Yankees’ Jim Coates (17, 1959-60).

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina senators decided not to hold a key vote Tuesday on whether to give the Carolina Panthers tax breaks and incentives to move their practice fields out of North Carolina, as it became increasingly unclear if the bill could pass.The key component of the proposal would offer about $115 million in state income tax breaks to the NFL team that it would have to use to build a new headquarters and indoor practice facility in South Carolina.But Democratic state Sen. Dick Harpootlian and a few other more conservative senators have continuously questioned whether Panthers billionaire owner David Tepper needs any public help.Harpootlian paid for his own economic analysis of the deal that found the benefit to the state could be around $1 billion — less than a third of the estimate provided by the state Commerce Department. That prompted more senators to question the deal.“We are supposed to protect the taxpayers from getting ripped off. We are the only people standing between them and this billionaire taking advantage of them,” the Democrat from Columbia said Tuesday.The Panthers currently practice and play in downtown Charlotte http://www.steelersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-benny-snell-jr.-jersey , North Carolina, just inside the state line. South Carolina is trying to bring them about 15 miles (24 kilometers) south.Tepper bought the team last summer and a new indoor practice facility is a priority. Heavy rains late last season forced the Panthers to move practices to a hotel ballroom.Tepper and other Panthers officials have said nothing publicly about the South Carolina offer, even after a private meeting with Gov. Henry McMaster and legislative leaders.McMaster and the South Carolina House have pushed the bill hard, and the proposal passed the House 90-25 less than two weeks after it was announced.Senators who support the bill said South Carolina has given these incentives and more to other companies without opposition and people are only upset because the Carolina Panthers are a well-known, newsmaking NFL team.“What we are actually doing is fairly mundane,” said Republican Sen. Wes Climer, whose district likely includes the South Carolina site.Harpootlian’s economic analysis also said the state’s estimates on how much money the Panthers’ move would bring in depended on every Panthers player and coach moving to South Carolina and spending their entire paychecks here.Supporters acknowledged that made no sense, but said they will still pay taxes here no matter where they live and those taxes will be substantial once the incentives end in 15 years.“Granted it is only 150 jobs, but the jobs pay a million dollars apiece,” said Republican Sen. Greg Gregory of Lancaster.Even if the bill passes the Senate on Wednesday Zach Gentry Jersey , there could be another hurdle based on an unrelated, ongoing feud with the governor. Senators tacked an amendment to the Panthers proposal changing the way McMaster handles appointments that require their approval.The House has ignored the proposal about appointments so far this session, but will likely have to accept it to get the Panthers bill passed. If the bill gets to his desk, Gov. McMaster will face a similar dilemma deciding whether to sign it.